ARTS RESEARCH IN THE NEWS

UBC economics professor Marina Adshade explains that TED speakers spend a lot of time writing and perfecting their talk. “If you have a lot to say, which most of us do, you really have to organize yourself,” Adshade said.

Adshade was one of almost two dozen experts who spoke at TEDx Vancouver on Saturday.

UBC political scientist Allen Sens says the world will be watching to see how France reacts in the days following the Paris attacks.

“France is one of the countries that are deeply engaged in the fight against ISIS in the Middle East….It’s also a country that has deep divisions on Islamic extremism and Islam generally, and in the treatment of its Arab populations,” Sens told CKNW. “One of the things to watch for is will there be a backlash. There’s already a great deal of hostility and suspicion…the [attacks] can provoke deep racial and religious hostility.”

Sens also spoke to News 1130.

Metro Vancouver residents who are living in vans, trailers and similar vehicles to avoid paying rent are the focus of a new article in the Vancouver Sun.

UBC sociology professor Nathanael Lauster says high housing costs is mostly to blame for the growing number of people living in vehicles.

“These vans and RVs can be a relatively warm and dry place to stay and rest your head,” said Lauster.

Many of the Liberals’ promises about environment policy aren’t specific enough, according to UBC political scientist Kathryn Harrison.

“It calls for a national price on carbon but doesn’t give any details about what that scheme would look like,” Harrison said, adding that the three major party platforms all “left the door open to one or more pipelines.”

A Globe and Mail article explores Canada’s Group of Five sponsorship program, which allows groups of five or more Canadians to sponsor a refugee or refugee family by providing financial and emotional support for around a year.

The program is ideal for turning people’s generous impulses into happiness, according to Elizabeth Dunn, a happiness researcher at UBC. This is because it fosters immediate connections between givers and recipients, and because donors can see how their generosity is making a difference.

Joseph Henrich, a professor at Harvard and UBC, proposes that humans’ uniqueness lies “less in the power of individual minds than in the collective brains of our communities” in his book The Secret of Our Success:  How Culture is Driving Human Evolution, Domesticating Our Species, and Making Us Smarter.

Psychology Today reviewer Glenn Altschuler calls the book “immensely ambitious, informative and important.”

UBC’s celebration of the 45th anniversary of Canada-China diplomatic relations was the focus of a Radio Canada article (in Chinese).

The anniversary was marked by a day-long public event hosted by UBC’s Institute of Asian Research (IAR).

The event was also covered by Singtao, Fairchild TV, and Xinhua News. Mingpao News ran a story on a new IAR publication highlighting 100 years of UBC-China connections and comments from IAR professor Paul Evans.

Michael Griffin, a UBC assistant professor of classics and philosophy, will lead a day-long program called Ancient Philosophies of Happiness on Saturday, Nov. 14.

The program, which is open to everyone, will examine how ancient Greek ideas about a well-lived life could enlighten the modern-day search for meaning and happiness.

Amid reports that around 40 per cent of the food produced in Canada is wasted, UBC professor emeritus Graham Riches argues that corporations shouldn’t be offered tax breaks for donating excess food.

Riches says the donation would reward overproduction and wouldn’t alleviate the issue of hunger.

Yves Tiberghien, director of UBC’s Institute of Asian Research, talked about the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Canada and China on CBC Early Edition.

Canada’s early start in opening relations between the two countries remains significant, Tiberghien said, adding that Pierre Trudeau’s China visit in 1973 was a strategic move that acknowledged China’s importance in the international system.

UBC marked the anniversary with a day of panel discussions featuring academics, diplomats and people from industry.

Japan is keen on promoting its 15 UNESCO cultural sites and four natural sites, which provide much needed economic stimulus through tourism. However, the country should avoid politicizing the nomination process for heritage designation, writes UBC master’s student Trevor Kennedy.

Kennedy cited Japan’s attempt to nominate documents pertaining to the use of forced labour of 450,000 captured Japanese in the USSR, a move that drew criticism from Russia.

The G-20 leaders’ summit this weekend is unlikely to produce any big changes but the next summit, hosted by China, would probably be more ambitious, according to UBC political scientist Yves Tiberghien.

“China will embark on a different agenda with its G-20 presidency,” Tiberghien wrote in a Nikkei op-ed. “[Chinese President] Xi Jinping is signaling a real commitment to global economic institutions. China is clearly ready to invest significant time and effort on the 2016 G-20 summit and in advancing the global agenda on several key fronts.”